France, Spain and the Rif
London, Edward Arnold & Co., 1927.
Octavo, xii, 338, [2] (blank), 12 (publisher's 'Spring Announcements, 1927' catalogue) pages plus 24 pages of plates (many full-page) and 3 folding maps.
Red cloth lettered in gilt on the spine, and in black on the front cover; spine lightly marked and sunned; edges a little foxed; an excellent copy.
Walter Harris (1866-1933) was 'a journalist, writer, traveller and socialite who achieved fame for his writings on Morocco, where he worked for many years as special correspondent for "The Times". He settled in the country at the age of 19 ... Harris was a fluent speaker of French, Spanish and Moroccan Arabic, and his physical features were such that he could pass for a native Moroccan. This enabled him to travel undetected into the interior of Morocco, which was at the time off-limits to outsiders, and thus see and describe places that no European had been to'. This book is his account of the Rif War, 'an armed conflict fought from 1921 to 1926 between the colonial power Spain (later joined by France) and the Berber tribes of the Rif mountainous region of Morocco. Led by Abd el-Krim, the Riffians at first inflicted several defeats on the Spanish forces by using guerrilla tactics and captured European weapons. After France's military intervention against Abd el-Krim's forces and the major landing of Spanish troops at Al Hoceima, considered the first amphibious landing in history to involve the use of tanks and aircraft, Abd el-Krim surrendered to the French and was taken into exile' (Wikipedia).
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